Originally Posted By: CaliCoyoteCallerOriginally Posted By: steve garrettI think a lot gets blamed on coyotes. The fact is many of these animals die of natural causes. Then the coyotes feed on the dead body. The carcus looks all tore up from coyotes but the damage occurred after it was dead.
I AGREE 100%. I think the coyote gets blamed for a lot of things he didnt do....maybe he is there cleaning up a dead calf and somebody sees him, and says, "Coyotes killed that calf."
Yes, large calves do get killed by coyotes, but it is not everyday that coyotes kill 500lb steers in the pasture.
Sheep are a different story. Personal experience shows sheep get hammered harder by yotes than cattle do.
Most all Ranchers know that coyotes rarely or don't kill 500lb steers, or heifers either, for that matter. Most of the time they are already paired out to pasture and some of your only worries are Pasteurella and grass tetany. We are concerned with newborns, when they are vulnerable, when the predator will and does take advantage of the helpless.
Sure Coyotes get blamed for a lot of things, some of which they don't do, but most of which each is capable of. Therefor when one or two are killers, we tend not to sort through the local coyote population trying to pick that or those coyotes out, we find them at the end of the week under the pile of fur we've pounded. The resilience of the animal allows us to cull over 70% without damaging the population.